Boat hours - Am I the weirdo here?

I don't get this phenomenon. Why are people so afraid of hours on a boat? I've seen quite a few different views/discussions on this.

For example, one that makes sense:

300 hours = 6 oil changes = the equivilent of 18k miles on a car changing it's oil every 3k.

Boat engines/transmissions aren't fragile and are designed to run so why is everyone always looking for a 10 year old boat with 250 hours? Why do people freak if a boat has 1k hours on it? I ask because I'd like to know what, if anything, I'm missing.

My truck has a digital odometer. It's got 30k miles on it and when I tripped to the hour meter on it, it's got 1k hours. Is there some great difference in the marine world? This is considered very low mileage on a used vehicle.

When I change the vdrive and tranny fluids in my boat after 50 hours, it looks brand new. Doesn't at all resemble a vehicles motor oil after 3k miles.

I understand where you are coming from. I think people just want the lowest amount of hrs they can find. Its just like buying a car. You want low miles. A boat with 1k hours will more than likely have problems before a boat with 300hrs, if you are looking at identical boats of the same year. I know there is exceptions to every rule, but I think generally it holds true. The other thing is that marine motors probably have more stress put on them with people loading up their boats with ballast. Just my opinion.

Boats are generally ran at higher rpms than cars when cruising so the hour comparison is not that accurate. Boat motors generally have more load put on them than a car's motor, its a lot easier to keep a car running 60 mph than it is to keep a boat running 35 mph.

The wear and tear on a engine comes from heat! The average boat motor is never ran anywhere close to the temps that a car/truck engine sees. You have a freakin' lake/river/ocean as a radiator.

You need to read some SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) reports dude! This is why we have the new Ford CV transmissions so that the RPM's stay in the powerband and a constant load is maintained. A properly maintained boat engine will last almost forever. I've had at least 50 boat engines apart and at least a 100 or more car/truck engines apart, so I am speaking from experiance. When was the last time you heard of someone blowing up a boat engine during standard operation?

I don't get it either. I think people get used to hearing a certain age/hours ratio. Those are the same people that are very recreational boats and whose boats may go in the water 5 times per year. My family bought it's first boat when I was 1. We had that same boat till my dad gave it to my brother and I when I was 22. It had 450 hours on it when we sold it. I then got really into wakeboarding and bought a wakeboat that I put 450 hours on in 2 years. When I sold the wakeboat it had been flawlessly maintained and looked new.

Personally I'd be more scared of a old boat with low hours. I think its more a deal of how the boat was maintained and most critically how it was stored.

I'm also an automotive tech and fully agree with Bocephus.... Heat is what kills a motor. The only time you'd get heat in a boat motor would be if something in the cooling system failed. Otherwise temps are much lower all around. I'd also say that running at high load wont cause any problem's as long as the motor is maintained. I had one BMW that I ran hard on the track 7k rpm's all day long that had 240k on the original motor. I sold the car to a friend of mine and it's still going strong. Doesn't burn a drop of oil. I still think that's amazing and I attribute a lot of it to constantly chaning the oil with a quality synthetic.

I tend to think the opposite about boat hours.
If a 5 or 6 year old boat has only a hundred or so hours it means it's been sitting for long periods and will have more problems, fuel lines clogging, corosion in the cylinders etc.
A boat used about 100hrs a year that is super clean is obviously been taken care of..

One thing that hasn't been considered is that the main difference between a boat with a 1000 hours on it compared to one with only 200 hours is that the 1000 hour boat has been in the water five times longer over its life than the other boat. That means five times the traffic on the vinyl and the carpet and everything on that boat that is wet five times longer. Five times the dock dings and tree stumps.

Also, its not really about the engine itself. Thats 1000hrs on the tranny, alternator, waterpump, ignition, carb (or injectors), sensors, etc, etc.

Granted, the long block will likely be fine, but what if the owner didn't keep acurate records of oil changes or tuneups? How do you really know if its been maintained? Chances are if its got 50 hrs a year the owner changed the oil at least once/season....but 300/year would be 6 changes so w/o records you never know for sure. Besides, how many used boats actually have ALL maintenence records? Especially if bought from a dealer lot. I think most buyers just prefer to err on the safe side and look for the one with lower hrs.

I think boat hours should be worn like a badge of honor, more hours should equal more respect. Be proud man! I got x number of hours on my boat that means I was having fun for those number of hours. Usually people I see with a lot of hours know their boat and maintain it well.

I don't understand how people have boats for a couple years and don't put any hours on them. They are just making that payment for no reason. I like Machew's theory.

I'm proud...500 hours in less than 2 years, I've got my money's worth and my boat runs phenominally.

Boat hours USUALLY mean wear and tear on the boat overall. If you're putting hours on the boat, you're putting time in the seats, on the carpet and the electronics are running. NOW- with that said, if you have good service records and the boats in great shape, hours are cool- it probably means the boat owner is a FREAK about maintenance and that's the boat you want to buy! I'd rather buy an awesome boat in fabulous condition with 1000 hours on it, than a run-down piece of crap with 100 on it. Boat motors work VERY, VERY hard, especially with big ballast tanks and you should seriously look at the transmission in ANY boat with ballast systems if you're going to buy used. I have 300 hours on my '01 Tige and it's in PERFECT shape.

I agree with you tom and evan... A boat with low hours means that its been sitting around. As long as you do proper maintnance and maintain your boat I say the long block will live for a very long time. Another thing is, even though we are loading down and putting the engines under different stressors that automotive pieces, these are designed for marine use... they dont use the same cam, heads or many other parts from the automotive industry... Id rather see a boat maintained and used a lot than a boat that sits in the water and is used some, or sits on the trailer covered and used some...
sorta an example... I drive this old 96 olds wagon... with 175k miles on it, it runs better than many of my friends cars that are often newer and have 50-100k less miles... I have beat this car into the ground and the engine and drivetrain still function flawlessly... cosmetically the car isn't so hot and there are a few quirks about it but it runs... maybe I got lucky (hope I continue to do so cuz Im a poor college kid trying to fund hobbies like these, not a new car haha) but I guess what I was saying is if the engine sees consistent use it is more apt to run better longer... maybe?

I gotta call b.s. on the theory that a boat that sits will have more problems. We just this past summer bought a 96 VLX with 145 hours on it. Not one single problem with the boat. New impellar and fluids and the boat is good as new.

I guess the other question is, how long does a properly maintained motor last? (before rebuild) one site I saw said about 1500... I generally assume that you should have no problems with your motor for the first 1000 hours. from 1000-2000 hours maybe something, and at 3000 hours its toast. I dont know, my chevy truck has 60k mi on it, and its hour meter says 2000.

I'd look at 1000hrs being about the same as 100k miles.

Would I buy a boat withj a 1000hrs? If it looked clean and ran well yes as it should go another 1000hrs with regular maintenance.

Would I buy a car with 100k? Yes again if its clean and all good.

Engines will run for thousnads of hours if looked after. My last ride had over 1700hrs on it when I got it and around 3000hrs when sold. It ran perfect!

So for those of you that log a bunch of hours on your boats (I'm a little over 200 a year), what do you do about service records? I change my oil, tranny fluid, and vdrive fluid every 50 hours and can do so in under an hour for under $50. Dealers charge ~$400 for the same thing. Is it worth it to have a paper trail of maintenance records when it's time to sell?

It seems like there are only two options for those that use their boats extensively. Either buy a new boat every year or keep the same one for 10 years and clock 2-3k hours on it. I don't really want to do either.

Buy a "Vehicle expense record" from Dome publishing, you can get them at Staples, adapt the columns for a boat, save all your receipts.
Don't make assumptions. Does a person really know that all the hours were spent loaded down with ballast, pulling 350 lb. riders and doing power turns? You could ask about the type of use. For example my wife and I board to Garlic Brothers then drive home. So at least 1/3rd of the hours are compiled with evening low speed cruising. Many boats in Disco are like that.
Meticulous attention to and knowledge of maintenance would be the best indicator of boat condition IMO.

Agree with the comments regarding car engines having to deal with higher operating temps than boat engines,but just as much damage can be done to a boat engine running to cold-and experiencing big fluctuations in operating temps from poorly desighned or badly maintained cooling systems.
Mine runs a constant 180-185 temp regardless of what we are doing with the boat(heat exchanger)

Im told im annal with maintainence but I spend less time/money on maintainence than others spend on downtime and repairs, and Ive lost count on how many newer boats ive towed home(usually with cooling system or fuel system faults from lack of maintainence)

We have never lost a day on the water due of breakdowns,but like any inboard boat,we have had a few hiccups (usually fuel related)
The most painfull period of owning it was after I stored the boat for ten months while away working overseas(even though the boat was preped for storage,we had a couple of months of grief getting
the boat back to running perfectly) and if I had to pay somebody else to repair and problem solve these issues it would have cost a small fortune.

When people jump in my boat they see obvious sighns of the hours of work its done,but are blown away when they check out the hourmeter,
the interior looks neat but used(redone in 1999)the motor looks and runs like its done a couple of hundred hours.The hull has a few marks and spider cracks, I could wind back the hourmeter to 1000 and get away with it (NOT THAT IM IMPLYING I WOULD)

Ive seen countless poorly maintained low hour boats that are a hand grenade ready to detonate and cause the owner a ton of grief and maul their wallet with the cost of repairs.

So when considering buying a second hand boat consider more than the hours on the boat (if your not mechanically minded, pay a tech to asses it for you, it may save you a ton of money)

We only use the boat in salt water.

1991 Correct Craft, 5812 hours on hull,3300 hrs on motor/trans,

How come i have never seen any of these high hour newer boats for sale. I was just wondering that the other day.